(WASHINGTON) - Acting Assistant Secretary of the Interior David Verhey joined more than 300 local elementary school students Monday on the National Mall to celebrate the start of National Fishing and Boating Week by fishing for bass and bluegill in the pond at Constitution Gardens.
"This event reflects our commitment to help get kids outdoors," Verhey said. "The Interior Department offers great opportunities for outdoor recreation on the 501 million acres of public land it manages. But we hope family members and friends will take a kid fishing - or on an outdoor adventure - wherever they can."
Verhey, joined by representatives of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, other federal and state agencies, as well as conservation organizations, led the students in an official "castoff" marking the beginning of National Fishing and Boating Week, a celebration of fishing and boating held each year in early June.
The week-long event is coordinated by the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation, a nonprofit organization seeking to increase participation in recreational angling and boating and increase public awareness and appreciation of the need for protecting, conserving and restoring the nations aquatic natural resources.
Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne has made re-connecting children to nature one of the department's priorities at national wildlife refuges, national parks, and other lands managed by the department. He hosted the first-ever "Children in Nature" conference last fall to bring together educators, planners, developers, land managers, health care professionals and other experts to discuss ways to get children back into the natural world.
"If we want to foster lifetime connections with nature, we have to start with children," said Frank Peterson Jr., President and CEO of RBFF. "I encourage everyone who's ever been fishing or boating to use National Fishing and Boating Week to introduce a child to nature."
Volunteers from the Service, other Interior Department agencies, the Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Forest Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the District of Columbia Fisheries and Wildlife Division, and a number of other organizations provided instruction on fishing and boating to the children as well as a basic introduction to the aquatic world.
Groups supporting the effort included Trout Unlimited, the Future Fisherman Foundation, the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation, the American Recreation Coalition, and Cast for Kids.
In support of the National Fishing and Boating Week, many states do not require a fishing license during the week and hold fishing clinics, casting contests, derbies, fish hatchery open houses and other family-oriented activities. Hundreds of communities also sponsor their own fishing and boating-related events.
For information on where to go for boating and fishing, visit RBFF's Take Me Fishing website: http://www.takemefishing.org
For information about outdoor recreation opportunities on federal lands, visit: http://www.recreation.gov/">
And don't forget to visit the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service website for educational and fun resources for kids and adults alike: http://www.fws.gov/educators/students.html
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 97-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 547 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resources offices and 81 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign and Native American tribal governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Assistance program, which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
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